outing #72 AA lone wolf.
Yes it is a ridiculously long gun season!
The temps remained in the low 20's for a high but the wind , ah the wind had ceased to blow. A very slight 3 mph wind was coming up out of the South today.
Now this am there 5 deer in the forage beans and 5 more in the picked Ag beans. This was well after sunrise. I suspected these deer were bedded on the sides of Rattle snake ridge.
Since the deer recently were not moving until the very last minutes of the day, I hoped the afternoon thermals in this slight wind would pull my scent down hill and the deer would not wind me as they came down off the ridges to feed. Unfortunately I was WRONG!
Here is the view today .
I was standing watching intently in the direction the deer should come off the ridge. I am happy to report that my hearing seems back to normal. I kept hearing this noise behind me. It dawned on me the noise was antler on wood. I slowly rotated on the stands platform to see directly behind me. About 45 yards back in the heavy cover a tree was swaying back and forth. It was deathly quiet except for the rubbing and pushing noises coming from the thicket. A pretty decent 8 point was back there giving a tree the what for. I slowly got the camera on him but the auto focus would not work as there was just too much brush in between us.
After about 10 minutes he finally started to walk in my direction and ended up 15 yards behind me. He stopped and picked up a frozen apple. As he rolled it around in his mouth I was able to get a good look at him. Heavy body and his legs appeared short. Good width, good mass, short tines. Even at this close distance there was still too many branches between us for the camera to work correctly. Darn!
I had this sinking feeling I should look back up hill to the North and see if any deer were coming down the hill. I turned my head to the right slowly and instantly saw 2 does coming down the mowed trail in my direction!! Crap! Now I had a buck very close, my camera not my bow in my hand and I still had to turn back around and face the north, all without making a noise. But before I could do anything the lead doe let out a snort, spun around to the left crossed her own back trail and up the hill both deer went!. BUSTED!
The bucks trail is in red and the does is in yellow.
So now the buck stood completely motionless. He is 15 yards away and all though I had no tag in my pocket for him and I was thrilled with the encounter. Other than the buck I killed over 2 months ago, this was the first really good buck I had close up. He finally decided to leave and he turned and walked up the hill away from me. I heard him break a few branches now and then and then the silence resumed. I still had about 15 minutes of daylight left. But the day ended with no shots.
I am going away for the holiday. Happy turkey day everyone. If you are traveling, safe journeys! If you are hunting good luck!